Real-life Grinches Steal Layaway Gifts

Police in Lackawanna County have made headway in an investigation into bizarre thefts at two Walmart stores.

Police said they may have identified two of the crooks caught on tape stealing Christmas presents.

Police in Taylor and in Dickson City said after surveillance video aired on TV Wednesday night they were able to identify two potential suspects. They’re looking for four real life grinches who stole thousands of dollars worth of Christmas presents.

Police got a good look at the faces of the four robbers leaving the Walmart in Taylor early Wednesday morning. The group, in a bold move, walked out of the store without paying for air rifles and a pair of bolt cutters they later used to carry out the rest of their crimes.

The robbers then went around back and used those bolt cutters to break into trailers that Walmart uses to store gifts placed on layaway.

Then, police believe the four did the same thing at the Walmart in Dickson City. In all, they took thousands of dollars worth of toys, bikes, and electronics from the two stores.

“It’s just devastating, people have been through so much, and now they’re hitting them before Christmas? It’s terrible,” said Sandra Schmidt of Kingsley.

Both Walmarts are still doing an inventory on the trailers to see exactly how much was taken. In the meantime, police said they got some good tips off of the surveillance video. They believe they have two of the robbers identified. They are looking for three men and one woman, all in their late teens or early twenties.

“It’s just crazy, anything can happen, it’s Christmas. “It’s a sign of the times, sad to say,” said Lisa Lastouskas of Archbald.

“I think it’s horrible, it’s scary actually. You never know what people are going to go after anymore,” said Schmidt.

Police interviewed those two potential suspects Thursday afternoon, and they believe the four robbers in the video may have been responsible for another robbery at a Walmart a few weeks ago. We contacted Walmart corporate officials, but they didn’t return our calls.